Now You Know: Caribbean-American Heritage Month

June marks the eighth observance of Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

In the Memphis metropolitan area in 2011, there were an estimated 5,833 people who trace their heritage or ancestry to the Caribbean. That’s about 0.44 percent of the population.

The group included 5,156 people of Hispanic or Latino descent, which is about 0.4 percent of the population: 2,858 of Puerto Rican descent; 1,242 of Cuban descent; and 1,056 of Dominican descent.

Another 677, or 0.05 percent of the population, were of West Indian descent: 35 of Barbadian descent; 149 of Haitian descent; 426 of Jamaican descent; and 67 of Trinidadian and Tobagonian descent.

Nationally in 2011, the Caribbean-American population included: 4.9 million of Puerto Rican descent; 1.9 million of Cuban descent; 1.6 million of Dominican descent; 1 million of Jamaican descent; 908,000 of Haitian descent; 196,000 of Trinidadian and Tobagonian descent; 62,000 of Barbadian descent; 53,000 of Bahamian descent; and 17,000 of U.S. Virgin Islander descent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2011 1-year and 3-year estimates

Now You Know is compiled by data reporter Grant Smith of The Commercial Appeal staff. To suggest topics e-mail grant@grantmeaccess.com.